Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Globe and Mail's Sophie Cousineau penned an intriguing article about Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson's attempt to corner the music concert business in Quebec to continue to expand his entertainment empire, but Molson's side project isn't taking his eyes off the prize:

"With the Canadiens, we can do things better but we can’t expand, really,” he says.

That is not to say that running the Canadiens is an easy job. There was the four-month NHL lockout which wreaked havoc in the 2012-2013 season, even if it has given the Canadiens predictability on the team’s all important payroll costs. “We know the math,” Mr. Molson says.

There is the intense scrutiny on the Canadiens’ performance, such as Carey Price’s uneven goal tending, about which Geoff Molson gets an earful at the amateur hockey rinks where he accompanies his three sons when they play hockey.

And there was the controversy over temporarily replacing head coach Jacques Martin by the unilingual Randy Cunneyworth – which became an “affaire d’État” or national crisis in Quebec. (The Montreal Gazette even lamented the team had given a Christmas gift to the separatist Parti Québécois.)

“I learned that our relationship with the fans is fragile. You always have to have your fan hat on,” Mr. Molson says. He has since won back the affection of Montrealers, who applauded spontaneously when he appeared on a giant screen at the men’s final of the Rogers Cup.

The Habs president believes that with the team being put together by general manager Marc Bergevin, the Canadiens now stand “in a good place.”